Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces destroyed an Osa surface-to-air missile system of the Armenian Armed Forces on May 15, said Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.

Noting that Armenia continues to carry out provocations in order to once again escalate the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Ministry said that an Osa surface-to-air missile system, belonging to the Armenian Air Defense Forces, was taken to a new position on the frontline in the Fuzuli-Khojavand direction and an attempt was made to take control over airspace.

The Osa missile system, a re-supply vehicle and personnel of the Armenian Armed Forces were destroyed in order to eliminate the real threat to Azerbaijani aircraft and suppress the enemy’s activity.

An Osa surface-to-air missile system, the crew of which consists of five people, is capable of detecting air targets within a radius of 45 kilometers and destroying them at a distance of nine kilometers.

The Armenian side constantly breaches the ceasefire and resorts to attempts of sabotage against Azerbaijan. Over the past 24 hours, Armenia’s armed forces, using large-caliber machine guns, have 122 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.